Reactions to Parker Moving On
by Musicgirl xxx
Summary: Parker has moved on after season 1. This is a collection of stories related to my other story, Parker Moves On. Hope they are ok. T because I'm paranoid about writing something under the wrong rating.
1. Sophie's POV

This is a little continuation of my other story Parker Moves On showing some of Sophie's point of view. I hope to add more to this. I don't own anything.

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Sophie was excited, no she was beyond excited. She had got the leading role in the Sound of Music and she had invited her old team to come and watch her including her biggest fan, Nate. As much as Sophie hated to admit it, she had missed them all terribly and at point she found herself looking for Eliot to get her out of a sticky situation, Nate to plan a con on a mark, Hardison to be in her ear proving her with the information she needed and Parker to emerge out of vents, jump of buildings without fear or come out with some quirky and baffling comment that had everyone confused. They had become so close they were like a family and leaving them behind was so hard but they all knew it was what had to be done.

Sophie had been listening out for rumours or information on them all to make sure they were all ok and alive at the very least. She knew she was like the mother hen of the team wanting to check up on everyone and make sure that they were all safe and well even when they were together but she thought that she had formed the strongest attachments to the group of thieves out of all of them meaning she needed to reassure herself that they were all safe. Well the strongest attachment apart from maybe Parker. Parker was the oddball of the group or twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag as Eliot like to call her it she seemed to form strong attachments to people when she let them in, she just had strange ways of showing it. Sophie wasn't sure how she was taking the split, Parker could seem very tough but when it came to emotions she could be very vulnerable and needed reassurance. Also she was the one that Sophie had the most trouble keeping tabs on. She knew Eliot was somewhere in Pakistan and that it was dangerous but she knew he could hold his own and frankly there wasn't much she could do to help there so she kept an eye out for information and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she heard he was home safe. Hardison may have been hacking some pretty big stuff but he was too good to get caught and Sophie knew where he was thanks to her contacts and so she was prepared to go help him if need be. They may not work together any more but Sophie was very protective if her team. Nate was by far the easiest to keep tabs on, he got sober and then moved into a little apartment above a bar and surprisingly stayed sober. Apart from that he did very little and anyway Sophie caught up with him a couple of times to see how he was doing anyway.

Parker was her problem though. She knew that Parker was trained to drop off of the map but she had to have crossed paths with some people somewhere and surely Sophie's contacts would have been able to find that kind of information but no. There was the occasional report of a sighting somewhere in some country but they were scattered around the globe and Sophie didn't think Parker would want to travel that far. Another thing that had Sophie worried was that there were very few big thefts around the world and in many break ins nothing was taken or the stolen items were given back. That was not like Parker at all and that had Sophie worried. She always fairly sure Parker was still alive and Nate told her not to worry, arguing that maybe Parker couldn't go back to being the bad guy or girl in her case and had stopped stealing by put Sophie wasn't sure. Still she kept her eyes out for her and kept an ear open for rumours just in case something came up.

Her play, Sophie decided would be a perfect opportunity to get the team back together and to let her check that everyone really was safe and well. She couldn't deny that she had been bored and she knew that Nate missed the trill of the chase as well and she was fairly confident that if she brought the team back together then they would fall back into their old pattern of jobs. She once again had to use her contacts to get the invites out and she wasn't even sure if they would reach their intended recipients but slowly she got conformations back that they had received them and that they would come. She got Nate's first then a while later Hardison's and then Eliot's a week before the show but the one reply she didn't get was Parker. It had been passed from pillar to post. It she had been told that it had finally been delivered as best they could for Parker to find it as she never left forwarding addresses so they didn't know if it would be picked up and Sophie was left feeling disappointed and like she had failed, as she assumed that Parker wasn't coming.

Her realisation was confirmed when on the opening night she entered the lobby of the theatre to find Nate, Eliot, and Hardison all staring at each other but no little blonde thief. Her lack of prescience had been noticed by the others but they all seemed to hold out a little bit of hope that she may be late or already there somewhere. Sophie waited as long as she could but finally had to rush off backstage but not before arranging to have drinks afterwards and telling them to tell Parker when they saw her. When. She was trying to optimistic and keep her hopes up but she was slowly resigning herself tot the fact that the little blonde thief either didn't get the invite or she just didn't want tot see them again. The empty seat next toe Eliot where she should have been made Sophie's heart sink a little before she pushed it to the back of her mind and carried on with her performance. She felt the euphoric high when she finished until she remembered that there was one member of their little mismatched team missing, a very bubbly, thieving, important part missing. After taking her bows she headed back to her dressing room where she was stopped at the door by one of the stagehands who handed her a letter. Slightly confused as to who would have written her a letter already, she retreated into her dressing room to read it in private. It read:

_Sophie, _

_Thanks for the invitation, you may not have seen me but I was there._

_You were great._

_I know you've been looking for me and I'm sorry I couldn't speak with you but I am safe. _

_If you don't believe me get Hardison to check the footage of the security camera I the passage way to the sound technicians. _

_Say hi to the team for me and hope you all stay well. _

_Parker _

Sophie scrambled to get changed quickly and rushed out of her dressing room clutching the letter. She checked the theatre several times but the was no sign of Parker left or that she had ever been there. She hurried to the lobby to meet the rest of the team and immediately demanded to know if they had seen Parker. She got three variations of congratulations and then commiseration that Parker hadn't shown up with Nate and Hardison sad and disappointed and Eliot angry at her for not showing and upsetting Sophie like this. Sad that they would believe Parker would leave them like that but understanding why they would think so she showed them the letter clutched in her hand whilst never letting go if it as though it was the last link she had to Parker and she wasn't going to let go of it. Hardison was straight on his phone hacking security and checking the camera feeds until he found the one that Parker had specified and rolling it back to the time period they couldn't believe it when the little blonde thief deliberately appeared in the camera shot and looking directly at the camera waved and smiled as though she were looking right at them and not through a camera. They soon found that apart from that one clip there was no other evidence she had ever been there.

Despite several more searches and a scan of the people outside, there were no further leads on where Parker was, not that they expected there to be really, if Parker didn't want to be found then she wouldn't be found. They trudged back to the bar, moods damped if they weren't already by Sophie's singing but none of them could shake the feeling that they were being watched although they couldn't pinpoint from where. In the bar, Sophie mourned the reviews of her performance and they decided to pull another job, holding some hope that maybe Parker would join them but knowing that they were better as a team and a unit than they were alone. The mystery arrivals of the evidence they needed throughout their con confirmed that Parker had been watching than and following them but she never showed her face again and they weren't entirely sure how she managed to do all of the work without being seen once. They continued to work together after that but they never replaced Parker, getting help where they needed it and hoping that she would return. Though they didn't see her after that day that wasn't the last they would see of Parker.


	2. Nate's POV

I don't own leverage. Sorry if this is bad and for any mistakes.

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If Sophie was classes as the mother hen of the group then Nate was most definitely the father of the group, strict with the 'kids' when they needed to be reprimanded for something or steered back to the right path, a good listener to any problems they had when he wasn't drunk and the father who organised all these fun adventures for the family. They knew that Nate was using them to fill the gaps and wide spaces left by the death of his son Sam and then by splitting from his ex-wife Maggie but they needed him all in their own way as much as he needed them so they didn't mind so much. He may have been drunk most of the time they were together before they were forced to split up after the two David's job but he was a surprisingly perceptive drunk and he still formed strong connections to the team despite his adamant denials that he didn't need them and that he would be fine on his own. In the end it was with their memories in his mind that he got himself sober and they were the reason he was determined to stay that way.

Nate had seen the way the team had bonded and how much they relied on each other for support and back up in areas they weren't as strong, allowing the others to see their weaknesses which for people like them who had been so private and had worked alone their whole lives had shown great attachment. It was this that made Nate keep an eye on all of his team after he called the split regrettably. He knew it would have a big impact on the team, on some more than others, and he just hoped they wouldn't do anything stupid or too dangerous in the time where they were alone with no backup to help them out. Nate had been closest to Sophie, having known her for a long time and having a personal connection to her and so he was unsurprised to find her close by to him when he was finally sober, no doubt keeping an eye on him and making sure he didn't relapse or cause more trouble than he could get himself out of. Whilst he didn't plan on doing much that could get him into trouble, he appreciated the sentiment, or maybe just the person in particular having enough interest to look out for him not that he would ever admit to that. It was nice for him to have a team member close by and when he was feeling particularly lonely he was comforted by her presence but it also made hI'm think about the three 'kids' of the team and hope that they were coping well.

He was very aware that Sophie was going all mother hen on them and keeping track of them as best she could but she wasn't aware he knew and seemed keen to keep in secret and whilst he knew she would tell him if one of them was in trouble and needed help, he couldn't help but use his old contacts from his days chasing them all separately to try and keep an eye on them. Hardison was surprisingly easy to track despite being a hacker and spending most of his days holed up in a room, or maybe Nate was just getting to know them and their habits better. He watched Hardison grow bored and even hack the Pentagon and look for national secrets but even though he seemed to miss the team as much as Nate admittedly did himself, he appeared to be coping just as Nate thought he would. Hardison hadn't formed as strong of an attachment to the team yet as others had and despite being integrated he still felt comfortable working alone. Nate was surprised but pleased to see that he seemed to have had an effect on the man as Hardison no longer seemed to be doing so much illegal work or using it for any malicious purposes any more. He must have had more of an effect on the team in his drunken state than he thought he had.

Eliot was one that Nate wasn't too worried about. While he knew that Eliot had actually formed quite strong attachments to the team and felt strongly compelled to protect them, Eliot was a master at dealing with, ignoring or hiding his feelings and if anyone could handle the separation with seeming ease then it would be him. Nate knew, however, that the split was affecting him more than he let on and that he missed the team as much as the rest did but he could cope as he always had before and seemed determined to prove that and to restore his reputation to use in the future if his activities in Pakistan were anything to go by.

No, Nate wasn't worried about Hardison or Eliot, he knew as hurt they may feel by the split that they would be able to cope and get on with their lives, Nate was worried about their little crazy blonde thief, the girl he thought of as the daughter he never had, Parker. Parker had been the most detached and the frostiest to the team at the start but that was just her defence barrier against getting hurt again. Parker had been hurt too much in the past to let people in easily but the longer they worked together the more the thief seemed to let them in, letting them see her methods and her weaknesses, something she had allowed very few to see ever before and the team should have felt very privileged by how much Parker allowed them to see of herself but as Nate realised now, they had taken her friendly, open bubbly persona for granted and now that was the thing Nate had to admit he missed the most. Parker, without realising it, had a way of cheering up the whole team with her antics as much as they tried to hide it and she was the life and innocence at times of the team. Parker had let the team into her heart though and there in lay Nate's fears as he could see her attachment to them and it had only occurred to him after the split itself how Parker would see this. The team splitting up was like them abandoning her like so may foster parents had and this would be what would cut Parker the deepest and Nate worried about how she would cope. His worry was only exacerbated hey the blank his contacts were turning up when he tried to track her. Now he knew that if she didn't want to be found then Parker could drop off the map and not be seen but she would rarely ever do it for that long and he dreaded to think of the threat that could be after her if that was the case. Another worry for him was the lack of thefts and the reports of thefts where the items were given back. That wasn't Parker's MO at all and he became to fear that she had been killed or captured. The lack of rumours at all for her was disturbing, it was almost as though people had been threatened into silence but he didn't want to go down that route of thought for fear of what that might mean.

He had kept up his surveillance but with still no luck in finding the missing and elusive Parker although there were slightly more reports of thefts which put his mind at ease somewhat as he hoped these meant Parker was safe and well and coping. Sophie's invite to her musical the Sound of Music had him wanting to find an excuse but he had to go really and he was further persuaded when he found out that Sophie had invited the rest of the team. It would be a subtle chance for him to check that they all were truly ok and he hoped that Parker wouldn't be able to refuse an invitation from Sophie knowing she would face her ire if she didn't show and that would give him a chance to confirm that she was alive and find out what she had been doing in the six months the team had been split.

Nate approached opening night with more enthusiasm that he usually would have for one of Sophie's shows, she truly was an awful actress on stage and he knew for a fact her singing was worse, and Sophie would have been suspicious had she not been so excited about her 'big break' or as Nate knew it was being able to see the team again. Secretly he was pleased to hear Sophie suggest drinks after although he didn't show it as he looked around the cosy lobby in search of a bouncing blond head of his favourite thief in the crowd. He became more and more worried as he failed to spot her in the crowds of people and sad that she didn't show when the rest of the team made an effort. It was clear they were all holding out hope that she was late and they were all clearly worried for her but as the show started they all began to accept that she wasn't going to show. The mood deflated and was crushed further by the performance without the normal attempts at positive comments for Parker.

They trudged out at the end and Nate thought he caught a glimpse of blonde hair through the crowds but it was gone in an instant and Nate had to write it down to wishful thinking. The three men stood in near silence, each lost in their own thoughts, waiting for the grifter to emerge and when she did just that her hurried step and face full of emotions so unusual for her made them all look for the threat. The piece of paper. Crumpled from her clutch was shoved into their faces whist still holding on to it like it was a lifeline and Nate began to understand that after he saw the message and the signature. Reading the note and seeing the footage that Hardison had found caused a wave of relief to wash over Nate before he was hit with the disappoints ce that she wouldn't even be bothered to see them and speak to them herself. There had to be something going on with Parker but what he just didn't know.

The rest of the case was a bit of a blur for Nate after the attempt on his life and the mystery appearances of evidence they needed just at the right times with the latter confirming Parker's presence at some point and the former leaving Nate a bit jittery and on and for a long while after the case was over. It became clear a few cases in that Parker had left Boston when no more evidence turned up and there were no more notes. Nate had to admit he was a little disappointed that she didn't leave him a note just to let him know she was alive and well but he figured that she assumed they had all read the note to Sophie or at least he hoped that was the case as he didn't like the other option very much. Despite the need for a thief a lot of the time, Nate couldn't find it in himself to replace her, especially not when he felt partially responsible for her disappearance in the first place, and so they got help when and where they needed it and left her spot open on the team for if she ever decided to return. It was the consensus of the team that they would set out to find her one day but they would have to leave her be for the while, if she didn't want to be found then she wouldn't be and that first case in Boston wouldn't be that last time they would see Parker.


	3. Hardison and Eliot's POV

Eliot and Hardison had both been busy in the time the team had spent apart doing what they did best and trying to restore their reputations that had slipped slightly whilst they had been with the team. Both were upset by the split although neither wanted to admit it especially Eliot, although neither really had anyone to admit it to anyway. What they did was dangerous in different ways but they were both so good at their jobs that neither got caught when they didn't want to be or hurt too badly. They worked on separate projects the whole time but both secretly were tring to keep an eye on the team.

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Hardison was sure that nothing could beat his computer skills. No one could hide from the technological world completely and if there was one little trace of them then Hardison was going to find them. Nate was horrifyingly easy to find and Hardison was really going to have to have a word with him again about protecting himself better and stop him from putting a metaphorical target on his back whilst there was none of them around to protect him.

Sophie was a little harder to find as a grifter but he thought she would be near Nate and there was some activity on some of her aliases that he could track. She was still grifting at times but she seemed to be doing ok for herself and she and Nate kept in touch at any rate so he was there if she needed him. Eliot, Hardison was less worried about, he could take care of himself very well and this was confirmed when he heard his name in connection to the hunky stuff he had found going on in Pakistan. Hardison kept an eye in him and had to admit that he was relieved when he saw that he was back it the states safely and relatively unscathed for what he had been up to.

The one he had been the most worried about anyway had been Parker. Hardison felt like he had got along well with the little blonde thief and he couldn't deny that he would have liked to have dated her but he knew that she never really returned his feelings for her and was closer to Eliot as both had bonded of the danger and thrill of their jobs despite the fact that Eliot would vehemently deny that and probably hurt you if you ever suggested he was close to the crazy little thief.

Parker had him very worried though. He could find no activity on any know aliases he had for her and he couldn't find any reports of thefts that fitted Parker's MO. For someone who lived for the thrill of the chase and in her case the theft, she couldn't have gone that long without stealing something and Hardison was worried about how their split may have affected the deceptively fragile thief. He had seen how impulsive and vulnerable Parker could be and he knew that the split had been like her family upping and leaving her and with her experience if the system she must have felt abandoned.

Hardison had turned to security cameras to try and track the thief but when you had no clue where to look, it was almost impossible to find her. He caught glimpses of people who could have been Parker but they were scattered all over the globe and he really wasn't sure that she would be travelling that far on her own like this.

When he got the invitation to Sophie's play he initially winced remembering the last time she had attempted to act like that on a stage and wondered if he could accidentally lose the invitation but then he realised that if Sophie was inviting the team then this was the perfect opportunity to see if Parker was alive and well, knowing that she would go if she got the invitation rather than face the rathe of Sophie when she found out Parker was missing. Seeing Nate and Eliot in the lobby had brought back all the memories of the jobs they had done and how well they had worked as a team but he felt a sinking feeling when he didn't see the bouncing blond head that he was looking out for. They all tried to be positive and hoped she was just late or they hadn't seen her yet. But then they were seated and there was still no Parker.

The performance was awful, there was no two ways about it and Hardison spent the whole time trying to convince himself that maybe she hadn't got the invitation and that she just hadn't know but he wasn't doing a very good job. It wasn't until after when he saw the note and found the footage that some of that hope came back. She was alive and by the looks of it well and that settled some his nerves for her but he was still hurt that she didn't show her face again but little did he know he would see the little blonde thief again.

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Eliot was in pains to admit it but he actually missed the team. It just wasn't quite the same doing his job without the snarky comments of Hardison in his ear, with Sophie and Nate bickering and the oddball comments of Parker that threw everyone for six but always seemed to lighten the knew that the others would probably be tracking everyone and so he didn't feel so bad when he did exactly the same to them and he may have left just a few more clues for them than he otherwise might have, but not enough to endanger himself.

Nate and Sophie weren't too hard to track. Nate stayed in the same place for most of the time making very easy to keep tabs on and Eliot knew where Nate went Sophie was never far behind and after finding out that they had met up a few times, he was happier that they would have each other to protect each other although he was worried that he wouldn't be there to save them if they needed it but he carried on with his job regardless, trying to restore a bit of his reputation to make sure he was still feared.

Hardison was just as easy to track, he was like a sitting duck in his apartment that was more like a mansion but he seemed to be doing we'll for himself and so Eliot left him be but kept an eye out for any threats that could be coming his way.

The invitation came out of nowhere to him really as he hadn't expected the team to get back together so soon after they split up but he couldn't deny he wanted to see them again, he just really did not want to see Sophie's acting again. He agreed to put up with it, however, if that meant he could see the team again and reaffirm they were alive and well with his own eyes. There was one in particular that he wanted to see after failing to locate her.

As much as Eliot would deny it, he had probably become closest to the blonde thief of the team as they shared a thrill and danger of their jobs that required a more physical kind of skill and so they had trained together a few time before they split as a team and Eliot was worried about her. He had wanted to follow her, knowing how emotionally fragile she could be but he had a job to do and so he figured he would track her and visit her after his job but his job Rabin and on and he couldn't find any sign of Parker.

He probably came the closest of all of them to finding her as he had been in the same city at the same time at one point and had seen a flash of blonde in the crowd but he hadn't known she was in the area, not knowing where she was at all but holding out hope she was still alive and feeling guilty that he hadn't been able to protect her better in case she was hurt, and it had gone by the time he looked in that direction so he thought nothing of it.

Come opening night he looked for her in the crowd but couldn't see her but he still couldn't shake the feeling that she was there. During the performance her was sure her heard a giggle from the rafters above him and he was sure that when he glanced up he saw a flash of black that looked like a show poking out but when he looked back it was gone. he looked sadly at the empty seat next to him and thought he was imagining things until he saw her waving at the camera when Hardison showed them and he knew she had been up there watching them.

He was sad and angry that she never came to see them or gave them another sign that she was alive and although the mysteriously appearing evidence was clearly the work of Parker there was still no other visual or material evidence that she had been there and he wished that he could see her again and could make sure she was safe. Little did he know he would.


	4. Jovana, Milinka and Stevan

Sorry the characters seem really OCC but I was having trouble writing their speeches.

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How Parker met Jovana, Milinka and Stevan

Parker had just had a meeting with a delightful old couple who didn't seem to mind her quirks about her doing a little job for them. Their daughter had gotten lost one day when out in their town and had accidentally stumbled across a warehouse. Wondering if they had a phone she could use or whether they could point her in the right direction of home, she had knocked on the small door at the front of the warehouse only for it to swing open. Assuming this meant she could step inside, she had walked in, calling out to see if anyone was there. Within minutes, there were men with guns surrounding her and demanding to know why she was there and who had sent her. Confused and tired she had denied everything, which had only served to infuriate the men who proceeded to beat her until she was on the brink of death and then dump her on the side of the road to die. She had been incredibly lucky to be found before she died and had been treated in a hospital. She had woken up long enough to tell her story to her parents and tell them she loved them before she died of internal bleeding that the doctors hadn't been able to stop. Her poor elderly parents were devastated as were her husband and children but no one believed her parents when they told them what their daughter had said. No one wanted to anger the men with guns, as they were feared due to rumours. Even the police feared them. Her parents just wanted justice for what they had done to their daughter and had called Parker as a last resort, hearing she was in the area and a few rumours of what she could do.

Parker had to accept. The parents were devastated and it had tugged at her heartstrings, compelling her to agree to a mission way too dangerous to pull off on her own. As much as Parker hated to admit she needed help, she knew there was no way she could take down this gang on her own, especially after what her research had turned up. Thugs, bullies, gunrunners, you name it and they probably would have done it. Parker may have been brushing up on her fighting skills and be at an adequate level but she was in no way shape or form good enough to take these guys on her own. She knew she had to call in outside help and her first thought had been Eliot. This thought however had pained her greatly, the pain of the split of the team and them leaving her like everyone else always had was too much for her and that option was ruled out as soon as she thought of it. He was the best she knew though, and there was only one other hitter she knew that was even close to Eliot's standard. But Parker hated him almost as much as she hated Sterling for causing the team to split up. She knew she needed him though, so Parker picked up the phone and made the call.

Quinn had been in a short lull after he had finished his previous job and didn't have another lined up yet. He had taken quite a beating from Eliot Spencer from their little fight in the aircraft hanger, and he was still kicking himself for losing. He was just relaxing when the shrill sharp tone of his phone indicated he had a call. Lazily, he reached out and scooped the infernal thing up before it rang through, in case it was a new job to do. He didn't recognize the number, but he answered anyway with a gruff "Quinn".

The voice that responded shocked him upright from his relaxed position on his sofa. "I really hate you right now, but I need your help," Parker ground out through gritted teeth. She hated to admit she needed help, especially to someone who had caused her family to split up.

Quinn was shocked, he recognized the voice that seemed to be very reluctantly asking him for help, but he was still bitter from his fight against Spencer and so he replied "Why not ask your little pet hitter to help you if you hate me so much?"

Parker knew he wouldn't just ask her what he could do like Eliot would have done ,and the thought of him so willing to help made her want to cry. She chocked on a sob and muttered "I knew this was a bad idea, forget I ever called and don't tell anyone about this or I will make you regret you were ever born." She knew it wouldn't have the effect she wanted, but it made her feel better.

Quinn almost laughed at the threat from the little blonde thief who he had admired immensely in her talent, but he had heard her crying and despite being a hard, unfeeling hitter, he had a weakness for crying women. They made him feel bad and so he said to her "Look I'm sorry, I just didn't expect to get a phone call from you of all people asking for help from me when you hate me and Spencer kicked my butt. Aren't you part of a team anyway? Why me?" He tried hard to be nice to her and then maybe she would stop crying. He was surprised she hadn't hung up on him yet. Everyone seemed to think he was tied to IYS and James Sterling but the truth was he was hired help to try and capture Sterling's old rival. It had been too good of an opportunity to pass up, a chance to be remembered for taking down the most untouchable group of thieves, but he had admired the blonde thief. She had proved her capabilities tenfold with her antics, and he found himself intrigued. He may have been a lone wolf but what sane hitter would turn down the opportunity to work with a hot and talented thief?

Parker wasn't sure why she hadn't hung up yet. Quinn seemed to be nicer to her at this point, and she was still holding out some hope that he could help her. She really wanted justice for the young woman and her family, so she bit her lip and started to tell him the story. "You can't tell anyone please. I need to know you won't tell anyone," she said and after his affirmative due to his building curiosity she continued. "The team split up, they decided it was too dangerous to stay together so they just upped and left me and I felt so alone so I started working on my own again but it just wasn't the same so I started up my own version of helping people like we did as a team but on my own and I was in Serbia and this elderly couple approached me and asked for my help and the bad guys have so many guns and they are really dangerous and I can't do it alone but I can't just not do anything and I couldn't ring Eliot because he left me and you were the next best hitter I knew and ..." Parker just blurted out the whole story as quickly as she could to get it over and done with, trailing off when she didn't really know what to say.

"That's not really my kind of job," Quinn replied confused as to what she wanted from him. "I don't help people."

"But you beat them up," was Parker's reply and it was so innocent but made so much sense.

"You want me to beat up the guys with the guns while you do what?" Quinn asked, catching on but was quite frankly shocked that he was even considering helping her. Something was making him listen though, and there was just something pulling at him to help her.

She was surprised he was still listening and picking it up, but it pleased her and so she replied with more confidence. "Find out what they were doing, what were hiding, and then find evidence to show it and get them arrested somehow, preferably with them tied up and unable to hurt anyone."

She seemed so sure of herself that Quinn found himself agreeing to help her and saying he would fly out as soon as possible. The squeal she gave made him pull the phone away from his ear to prevent her from deafening him, but it made something inside of him feel good that he was helping her out so he noted her directions and started planning even as he clicked the phone off.

Days later, Quinn was now in Serbia waiting for the blond thief to pick him up and take him to her hideout, where they would plan the rest of the job and rest up until the perfect moment to strike. He looked around him but couldn't see her, so he turned back around and was shocked to see her right in front of him. Being shocked seemed to become a theme for him when it came to the thief. He was once again shocked when she socked him hard in the arm, surprisingly powerful for her size, and then hugged him.

"You broke up my family so I hate you, but you're helping me so I like you," she told him when she pulled back, as though it was blatantly obvious why she had done what she had done. Funnily enough, it did seem to make sense, but Quinn didn't have much time to dwell on it as Parker started to drag him off after her and towards her hide out.

Parker had commandeered a nice roomy old abandoned warehouse near the warehouse used by the gunrunners with only one entrance and exit, a door that was the only one that wasn't boarded up, and she had put a new lock on it to make sure she was kind of safe. After checking to see if there were any signs that someone else had been there, and when she was satisfied there wasn't, she unlocked the door and let herself and Quinn in, padlocked the door on the inside, and put a metal bar down. She wasn't taking any risks with these people.

Quinn watched her lock them securely in, pleased that she seemed to have been protecting herself, and looked around. It appeared Parker had furnished the place sparsely as there were two mattresses lying on the ground. It wasn't the worse place he'd ever stayed in, but it certainly wasn't the best either. But then she didn't want to let anyone know that there was anyone there, so she couldn't have brought too much in.

They got down to planning straight away and gave themselves three days to get ready and then they would hit the place. Quinn would go in, knock them out one by one, hogtie them so they couldn't move, and gag them so they couldn't warn anyone. Parker would sneak in and look for evidence of their illegal activities. They were both surprised to find that they worked well together and actually got along quite well, both developing a mutual respect for each other and their work.

Soon enough the day came that they would be 'stealing a bad guy's headquarters and his bad guys' as Parker put it so eloquently and all went according to plan to start with. Quinn had taken out the majority of them in a surprise attack and was scouring the extensive building for any stragglers he had missed. Parker had downloaded all the files off of the computers onto memory sticks and was just about to leave when she heard a noise from a side room. Checking that there was none else around, she peeked through the gap that the door was open, and the sight she was confronted with hit her hard with sadness and a sense of déjà vu as she remembered the last time she had been in Serbia with her team.

She was so caught up with the sight in front of her that she didn't even hear the door click shut behind her where she had shut it accidentally. The room was filled with orphans, or she assumed they were from the beds and the condition of them. Several looked like they had been beaten and they all looked filthy and tired. Suddenly, she remembered she had to get out of there, so she turned to open to door thinking she could sneak the orphans out as they had done before, but the door would not budge. Apparently, it had locked when it had closed, and there was no lock on the inside that she could pick to get them all out of there. Parker was well and truly stuck.

It was in that moment that she missed the technological connection she had had with her team and then she remembered her phone. She scooped it out of her pocket but was dismayed to find that she had no signal. Quinn meanwhile had hogtied them all together and, from their planning, it looked like he had all of them. He loaded them into a truck after checking them for any weapons and abandoned the truck just outside of the town. He had found the memory sticks that Parker had downloaded all the information and some photos on to and assumed she had left them for him and so posted them to the police department anonymously. He made his way back to the warehouse but was surprised to find that Parker wasn't there. Assuming she would turn up later, he laid down for a nap.

Parker, meanwhile, was lost. She didn't have her Serbian phrasebook with her, and all the children were staring at her. She raised a hand and a few flinched to her dismay. Gently and slowly she waved it back and forth in a wave and watched as they relaxed slightly. "Hi," she said in the hope that they would understand just enough English to understand her greeting. To her surprise, she was bombarded with many replies in English as it became clear that they all knew very good English and could converse with her very well.

In the following hours she was told by all of the orphans how the bad men outside had killed their parents and taken them and their siblings to force them to work for them and how they beat them if they didn't think they were doing well enough or just because sometimes. Parker was horrified by their stories, but she was touched by three the most. Jovana, Milinka and Stevan had all been only children and had been the only ones without siblings when they had been brought in. They had formed a close knit group and seemed to become more attached to her as time went on. Slowly, one by one the children fell asleep, tired from a long days work, and Parker watched as the three she secretly favoured snuggled up to her in their sleep and clung to her like she was their last lifeline. Parker just hoped someone found them soon.

As it turned out it would be another one and a half days before they were found. The orphans had hoarded some food, and it was shared out little by little to keep them going as they were all locked in the singular room with no escape route. The story telling continued and they played a few games that they could in the confined quarters. Jovana, Milinka and Stevan became closer and closer to Parker as she hugged and comforted them when they were upset and looked after them when some of the bigger kids got a little too rough with them and they all ended up with nicknames, becoming Jo, Millie and Steve respectively. They started to refer to Parker as their big sister. She looked after them like they thought a big sister would do, and Parker found herself getting attached to the trio. She just wanted to protect them.

Quinn waited another day and a half for Parker to arrive in which time he became increasingly worried for her, and wondered where she could have gone. It finally hit him when he saw a newspaper saying that an anonymous tip had lead to the arrest of the gang found tied up in a van. The memory stick! She hadn't left it there for him. She had never left! Quinn hurried over to the warehouse. Had he missed one, had they hurt Parker, had he failed her? He scoured the warehouse once again until he had checked every inch but one room, a locked door near to the room where the computers had been.

He regarded the lock, but it was more Parker's speciality than his, so he just called out stand back in the hopes that anyone in there would hear him and slammed his boot into the door. It swung violently open and when he looked inside, Quinn found himself slack jawed at the sight within. There were rows of beds with children cowering on them and in the middle, protecting three of them from any possible danger, was Parker, looking slightly tired and a little worse for wear but alive and well. Now he may not be a good guy, but he never involved children and by the looks of things they had been abused as well, which made Quinn's blood boil.

Parker was relieved to see the man entering the room was Quinn, and she couldn't help but throw her arms around him and hug him and was surprised when, for the first time, he hugged her back.

"Let's get them out of here," Quinn said in her ear, and she just nodded as she turned to address them. Jo, Millie and Steve clung to her as the two adults led them all outside to Quinn's truck. Quinn told Parker to wait with them and drove off only to return many minutes later with a bus big enough to transport all the kids in. Parker grinned at him and helped them all on.

Just before Parker could get on Quinn stopped her. "What are we going to do with them?" he asked, wondering what Parker was planning. He watched as her face fell and knew this was the moment she had been dreading. "You really got along with them didn't you?" he said.

Parker nodded, looking at him sadly. She knew she couldn't keep all the kids, but she had connected with them so well.

"You can't keep them all," Quinn started. "But maybe if you really don't want to give them up then you could take some of them with you." He wasn't really sure why he said it. It wouldn't be practical, but he couldn't bear to see her looking so sad and when her face lit up in a grin, he knew he had said the right thing. Parker started to tell him all about Jo, Millie and Steve and how she could train them to be her little protégés.

She continued like this until Quinn gently stopped her and reminded her she had to speak to the others first. Parker went into the bus and explained to the children what was going to happen. She told them her friend had taken care of all the big bad men and that they couldn't hurt them again. They were going to drop them off at the police where they could tell them what had happened, but they couldn't say anything about her or her friend.

She told them they were going to go to a big house where they could get adopted and to make sure that they told the police who their siblings were, and to take them to a certain orphanage, the one that the other orphans she had rescued were. When she told them that she was taking Jo, Millie and Steve with her, there were a few tears and many wanted to come with her as well, but she explained that they could have a happy family come and collect them and that she couldn't provide for more than three.

It took a little more persuasion and bribing with Hagen-Daaz, but they finally agreed to her story as long as she came to visit them at the orphanage and wrote to them to which she readily agreed. Quinn smiled as he watched Parker explain so gently to the kids, and at her nod he drove the bus and abandoned it near the police station where it would be found. Tearful goodbyes were said, with most of the tears being from Parker, and the Quinn, Parker, Jo, Millie and Steve slipped off and watched from a distance until the orphans were found.

They all left the country under false identities, having created some for the kids. Once in America again, Quinn and Parker said goodbye and promised to stay in touch. They had become quite good friends and had become quite protective of each other. Parker had forgiven Quinn for breaking up her family eventually as he hadn't left her and he had come back for her. Parker watched him leave and then turned to the kids and smiled. She had a new family now, one that Quinn had helped her build, and for that, she was very grateful. She would definitely have to introduce him to the Mortons at some point. He was part of her family now, whether he liked it or not, but first she had to forge some paperwork!

* * *

Thanks to my beta reader for this dandelion518 and to hugabugcraze19 who also gave me some help.


	5. Glimpses 1

Somehow, the team was still together even without their little blonde thief, although relations were much more strained as they realised she had provided a buffer and a focus for any anger and annoyance and had taken it on the chin. They had had to take more breaks and do a few less jobs, but they were surviving somehow even six months after they had first reunited. The team was still spending most of their time in Nate's apartment and eating their way through all his supplies and breaking his crockery and glasses with their clumsy grasps and big feet on the table.

That was how Nate found himself being dragged around the shops by Sophie along with a reluctant Hardison, who was dragging his feet and muttering under his breath about all the things he could be doing. Eliot had escaped at the first mention of shopping, something about training, and before Sophie could stop him, he was gone. Hardison had, however, been blissfully unaware, absorbed with something on his tablet and had looked horrified when Sophie dragged him out the door.

Nate had resigned himself to having to go along with it and knew that Hardison's complaining would make it worse for him. He would have rescued Hardison from the lectures he found himself having to listen to, but it was benefitting Nate that Sophie's attention was elsewhere and allowed him to wander along and observe the others out shopping. He was fascinated by the interactions of the others, but he was broken from his observation by a sharp tug on his arm. Clearly, Sophie had found a shop to go into as she dragged him into the store.

Turns out the store was a household appliances store and that Nate needed some new cushions for his couch and a new table lamp. Nate would have tried to protest this and say that what he had was fine and just how he liked it, but he knew that there was no use arguing with Sophie once she had made up her mind about shopping as it would just get him a long lecture and a longer shopping trip, so he just nodded absently at Sophie and gestured for Hardison to keep quiet when he tried to argue against Sophie.

"Just don't go there, Hardison," Nate hissed to the man in question. "Do you want another lecture about fashions?"

Hardison shook his head with wide eyes and wisely shut his mouth.

Sophie turned around from where she had walked off to and narrowed her eyes as she saw the two men hadn't moved. "What are you two waiting for?" she asked.

"Nothing," they both replied and hurried after. Sophie was still suspicious but moved off to the aisles that had the table lamps. Both men nearly groaned as they took stock of the amount of different options but remembered that the grafter had bat like hearing when she wanted to and so held it in and forced fake grins on their faces as they followed her to the first of the boxes.

Many table lamps later, and Nate had resorted to watching the other shoppers once again to stave off boredom. There were a few loved up couples who must have been picking out furnishings for new homes, a couple of people who looked rushed as they grabbed items and hurried towards the tills obviously on a time limit and a few families. The children from two of the three families were causing mayhem as they ran around the store, screaming as they went, and the poor parents looked at their wits end as they chased after them and tried to stop them from knocking anything over.

Nate watched them with amusement and sadness, glad that wasn't him like it had been many times before, but the memories of Sam that surfaced at the sight still caused him pain. Quickly, he turned his attention to the last family. A lone woman with three children sticking close to her legs was browsing the lamps, pushing a trolley with bits and pieces in. Her blond hair was drawn up into a messy bun with strands sticking out, and she was wearing a pair of worn out light denim jeans and a flowery blouse with plain black sneakers on her feet.

Of the three children, two were little girls who looked like they could be twins with the same mousy, light brown hair and were both dressed similarly to the woman, who Nate assumed to be their mother, although she looked a little young, with jeans on but instead wore patterned t-shirts in blue and mauve. The final child, a little boy, looked like the spitting image of his mother with blonde hair that was messy. He wore camouflage shorts with a dark blue t-shirt on.

Together as a family they were looking at the table lamps and the woman was asking the opinion of all the children which seemed to keep them focused and quiet compared to the havoc the other kids were causing. Seeing as she was on her own with three children, the blonde woman seemed to have the right idea and Nate admired her for that.

Looking closer at the blonde mother, Nate's eyes narrowed. There was something very familiar about that tall, slim woman. She reminded him very much of Parker. He was about to say something, but he thought his eyes must have been deceiving him. It wasn't until the little family had chosen their lamp and started off down the aisle and passed Nate, who had been distracted by Sophie to discuss the merits of a particularly ugly looking lamp that she seemed to have fallen in love with. Just as they passed by, one of the children said something to the woman, and she replied in a voice that stopped all three of the leverage team dead in their tracks, ugly lamp forgotten.

Sophie was the first to react. "Parker?!" she asked incredulously, but the woman didn't even respond, and the family continued on towards the tills.

Hardison seemed to be in shock. "Was that ...?" he started.

"I ... I though she looked familiar," Nate replied in shock. They had looked long and hard for the little blonde thief but had come up with next to nothing and, if they were right, her she was right under their noses.

By the time they recovered from their shocked stupor, and that took quite a while in itself, they all rushed after the quartet to see them just finishing up by the tills. As she paid, yeah that shocked them all that she had actually parted with money rather than stolen the items, she turned back and thanked the cashier and then looked back into the store. For a moment her eyes seemed to connect with the team before she picked up the packed bags and ushered her children out of the door.

The three thieves chased after her out of the store calling her name, but when they exited the store, there was no sign of Parker or any of the children, just crowds of people milling around. Shopping seemed to be over for the day as Hardison wanted to go home and check the security cameras, and Sophie seemed a bit too shaken up to care about continuing, so they made their way back to Nate's apartment.

* * *

Parker had taken Jo, Millie and Steve out to buy some new furnishings for one of their safe houses. Before, she furnished them sporadically, but with the children, she wanted to make them as happy as possible. If that meant buying a few more furnishings, then so be it. She was slightly less reluctant to spend money now; she wanted to give her little sisters and brother what she never had growing up.

They had gotten everything bar a new lamp, so they headed to that particular aisle. Jo, Millie and Steve were still quite shy and were a bit intimidated by the noise of the other children, so they stuck close to her legs. As they were looking at the lamps, Parker felt someone's eyes on them, but she didn't want to be too obvious about checking who it was and didn't sense any impending danger and so continued what she was doing. As they chose a lamp and turned around to leave, Parker realised who had been watching her. The day she went out in Boston had to be the day Nate and Hardison were dragged out by Sophie. She had to admit that it was good to see them again, but seeing them in such close proximity also caused the pain of abandonment to return. She knew that she had a new family now and that they all had to move on.

Quietly, she told the kids that there were some people she knew here, but that they had to ignore it if anyone said her name. Just as they were passing her old team, Jo asked her why and she replied, without thinking, that she would explain later and then she realised her mistake. They had recognised her voice and called out to her, but she continued on as though she didn't hear them at all.

Parker was twitchy all the while they were paying, imagining that any moment her old team would come rushing around the corner and force her to go with them. She just wasn't ready for that, and when she did speak to them, she hoped it would be on her own terms. Thankfully, there wasn't a queue at the tills, and they were done quickly. Parker turned to thank the cashier and looked back into the store briefly, only to catch eyes with her old team.

She broke eye contact and rushed Jo, Millie and Steve out of the store and to an alley near to the shop. They slipped out the back of the alley and half power walked, half jogged back to the safe house, making sure to watch out in case they were being followed. On the way back to the house, Parker breathed a sigh of relief and explained who those people were to her. Luckily for her, the kids picked it up quickly and understood. They dropped the subject and got back to the safe house, which they made look much like a home.

* * *

Eliot was back in Nate's apartment when they got back, but Sophie was too shocked from the encounter to question him. Eliot refused to believe they had seen Parker until Hardison pulled the footage of the store and froze on a picture of Parker's smiling face. They had to admit that she looked good through their shock. She looked to have grown up and become more responsible, dressed prettily with a smile on her face that wasn't due to money or thieving.

No one seemed to know what to do. They couldn't track Parker after that, she seemed to have dropped off the map, and they had no clue who the children were. She was alive, she was happy, and for all the questions they had and even though they wanted her back, they were happy that she was well.

* * *

This is the first of a couple of glimpses stories I hope to get around to. Please review if you like it and thanks again to my beta reader dandelion518.


	6. Glimpses 2

The team was on another con without their little blonde thief in another state. Without the bubbly energy of Parker, all the cases seemed to blur into one.

None of the team had forgotten about their glimpse of Parker. The security camera pictures had been downloaded to all of their phones and they had a few framed photos of her around the apartment and in Lucille. They all caught glimpses of blonde everywhere, hyper aware of every flash of blonde now, but none had turned out to be Parker.

* * *

Training with Jo, Millie and Steve was progressing very well and they were becoming excellent little thieves. Parker practiced with rewards for them, but also with time to act like children and play. Today they had finished training in one of their safe houses and Parker suggested they all go to the park.

The park near this safe house was a little paradise for the four. It had plenty of trees to climb, a children's play area and a beautiful lake full of fish with a little bridge across it.

Parker had bought herself a camera and now had hundreds of photos of the children at the picturesque park and as a family with her, and with Archie and Quinn sometimes when they had come with them. Jo, Millie and Steve loved Grandpa Archie and Uncle Quinn. They were like family and Parker appreciated their help with three energetic children.

Today the park was as quiet as ever, a little hidden gem, and so they headed straight for the play area. After burning off the kid's energy, they flopped down on their stomachs in front of the lake and watched the fish. They could lay like that for hours upon end and often did so, losing track of time until the sun went down and they got too cold to stay out there any longer.

* * *

Hardison was grumbling. He was the hacker, not the official photographer but, for this con, that was his assigned role. They needed pictures of the routine of their mark and he just happened to frequent a little park. Sophie was gushing over comms about how beautiful the area was and Hardison could just sense Eliot rolling his eyes from where he was jogging around, taking on the role of a serious jogger. Apparently Sophie could too as she proceeded to tell off and lecture Eliot from her position, sunbathing on the grass. Nate was sat on one of the benches in the park reading a newspaper like their mark was, hoping to strike up conversation.

They had been there a couple of times before separately, but today was the first day they were going to try and make contact and so they wanted everyone to be there just in case they needed to change plans or rescue Nate.

* * *

Parker got up from her position and retreated to the trees with her camera to take more pictures of the kids. She had never been so sentimental before she met them but now she felt so attached to the three and truly loved them, wanting to document every moment with them, and did so frequently. The three lay in a line with their chins propped up in the palms of their hands and their knees bent with their feet swinging above them.

The pictures that Parker snapped looked perfect, three children smiling and laughing in a beautiful place, as though they should be in a professional studio somewhere or on display, but how perfect they were made no difference to Parker. They were pictures of her family and for that reason they were precious. From the trees, she wanted a good vantage point, Parker could see the three clearly as well as the rest of the park although she paid little mind to the rest of the area.

Jo, Millie and Steve were dressed for the summer sun, with the two girls in pastel green and pink coloured dresses, and Steve wearing shorts and a thin pale blue t-shirt with a cat on the front of it. Most children would have wanted a more exotic or scary animal to be on their shirt but Steve had informed Parker that cat's were smart, nimble and agile and they were like Parker, and so he wanted a cat on his t-shirt.

Parker had been shocked at the explanation at first, but, when it sunk in, she had been flattered and pleased. It seemed that the kids had taken to her as much as she to them which relieved Parker, who only wanted them to be happy. All three wore flip flops that had fallen off their feet as they swung them.

Unaware, for the moment, of the extra people in the park, Parker had rejoined the kids and they had all moved to the bridge to dangle their feet in the water. Parker's own flip flops sat in a pile with the kids'. It felt odd for her to wear them,having always worn shoes that she could run easily in, in case she needed to make a quick get away, and was finding that she was getting used to the and that she could run in them quickly as well. It felt nice to have a life and a hobby outside of thieving and helping people.

Parker hadn't given up helping people, no, it seemed that Nate had changed her. Thieving no longer felt so good and so Parker continued to help people in between training the kids. They had gotten very good in the time they had been with her and Parker, after making them their own harnesses,had let them help her with some of her jobs, a lot of which were abroad now to minimise the chances of running into the team or getting the same job. Parker had picked up a few languages in her travels, but the little family still preferred the US to any other place as it was home and where the rest of their family was.

* * *

The day actually passed peacefully, and the two different groups in the park never met or saw each other. Eliot had caught glimpses of kids on their own and at times a family, as had Sophie, Nate and Hardison, but they were so focused on their con, that they missed who the family was.

Parker and the kids went back to their safe house, none the wiser, and played some board games until it was time for the kids to go to bed. Parker called Archie, after putting them to bed, and had a nice long conversation, talking about many different things including when Parker was going to bring her lovely kids back for a visit.

While the kids were like siblings to her and her to them, Archie treated them like grandchildren and they thought of him as their grandad. It was a little strange but he was old enough for that and so everyone went along with it. Parker was like a cross between a mother, a sister and a mentor to the three and she hoped that she balanced the three enough to be informative yet safe and strict yet fun. It was a hard balance but Parker managed it well somehow.

* * *

The Leverage team actually never realised that Parker had been there until they reviewed the photographs Hardison had taken the next morning. They had made contact with their mark and all their attention and focus had been on Nate and the mark and so the little blonde thief and her kids had gone unnoticed being on the other side of the park.

Hardison had been taking photos looking away from the mark but listening in to the conversation and adding his input when needed, so he hadn't really been paying attention to what his photos were of at that point. Turns out he had been taking lots of photos of Parker and her little family, many of which were very blurry and out of focus, but pictures of Parker none the less.

The team were shocked. How had the missed the fact that their little blonde thief had been within touching distance once again? She hadn't even been trying to hide, she was in full sight, and she couldn't have seen them as she hadn't run away, she had been there for hours. It had been the perfect opportunity and they had missed it.

They had all been angry at Hardison at first, even Hardison himself. He had been taking photos of her, must have been looking near or at her, and yet he hadn't seen her and alerted the others to her presence. He had missed their perfect opportunity. But then they realised that they had all been there and they had all had the chance to see her, they all could very well have missed her and probably did. Hardison was just doing his job and protecting Nate but they were all kicking themselves for weeks to come for missing her.

They had gone back day after day to the same park for a week in the hopes that Parker would return but they she was never there, much to their great disappointment, but they had a two leads on her now. It could only be a matter of time before they would catch up with her. Until then, well, they would keep looking!

* * *

Parker had got a call about a case the very next morning and, still completely unaware about the team's presence, had left with the kids for England that very morning. The case hadn't been that hard but they had stayed for a little sightseeing and practice and so had been in London for two weeks in total.

It was only when she returned back to that safe house, as they had left most of their stuff there, having to leave quickly, that she heard about how these people had come in and taken down the major loan shark in the town.

Parker had been working towards taking him down in her free time but to keep the safe house safe, no one in the town could know what she did and so she was having to work in her free time in secret. She had put many steps in place and the Leverage team must have used those along the way, so in a way she was still helping them.

She had know as soon as she heard that it had been a team that weren't cops or working under the law, that it had been her old team and she had mixed feelings. Relief that they hadn't found her and also sadness and longing, she missed them badly and maybe, just maybe, she would see them sometime soon.

* * *

This is unbeta'd but I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. Sorry for the wait, I've been busy with my other stories as well as this one. I will write a chapter when they meet again soon but I don't know how I want it to go yet so there may be a chapter or two before that one.

Thank you to DelusionNyssa, and everyone else who has reviewed this story. Please review so I know if people still like this story and want to read it.


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